No Bruises Found On Scott's Body

An evidence technician who examined Scott Peterson's body for scratches or bruises days after his pregnant wife vanished testified Tuesday he found nothing unusual.

Doug Lovell of the Modesto Police Department testified as prosecutors shifted the focus of their case to evidence collected during searches of San Francisco Bay and at the Modesto home of Peterson and his missing wife, Laci.

Lovell said he was looking or any evidence Peterson had been involved in a struggle, as police became increasingly suspicious he was responsible for his wife's disappearance.

"Did you notice any scratches or marks or anything on his body?" defense lawyer Mark Geragos asked during his cross-examination.

"No, I didn't," Lovell replied.

The examination was done more than a week after Laci Peterson was reported missing on Christmas Eve 2002.

Prosecutors are still making their case that Peterson killed his wife in their home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, trucked the body to San Francisco Bay in a large tool box and plunged it overboard from a small boat.

Defense lawyers maintain someone else abducted Laci Peterson while she walked their dog and held her captive before dumping her body to frame her husband. Peterson, 31, could face the death penalty if convicted.

Two weeks ago, prosecutors' focus was on Peterson's affair with massage therapist Amber Frey — his alleged motive, they say, for killing his wife and the couple's fetus.

Last week, testimony centered on witnesses who described where the bodies were discovered and their decomposed state, and prosecutors showed jurors photographs of the corpses and of tissue and bone.

On Monday, police officers testified about the extensive search for Laci Peterson's remains in the bay and of numerous items collected as evidence.

Modesto police Detective Ray Coyle testified that he examined the home for "blood spatter and blood drops" on Dec. 26 and Dec. 27, 2002.

Coyle said he found small spots that appeared to be blood on a comforter on the couple's bed, but did not elaborate.

Detective Rudy Skultety said officers also seized two hair brushes, shotgun shells, a camera, a vacuum cleaner and samples of Scott Peterson's hair.

Skultety testified that the FBI tested the house with Luminol, a chemical that can detect unseen traces of blood and body fluids. But on cross-examination he acknowledged that brown stains found in the kitchen and on a water heater tested negative for blood.

Coyle also testified he tracked down 285 of the 309 registered sex offenders and parolees living in the area, but said nothing led him to believe any of them were involved in Laci Peterson's disappearance.

Laci Peterson's torso and the body of the fetus washed ashore in April 2003, just two miles from where her husband claimed to have been fishing on the bay the day she was reported missing.